WEEK 10 READINGS
New Social Media and Global
Self-Representation
New Media,
New Spaces,
New Identities
The technological innovations of
the late twentieth and early twenty-
first century have made possible
the storage and transfer of vast
amounts of information; they have
also been the catalyst for the
expansion of social connections
and a globally shared culture that
surpass in volume and reach any in
human history.
Paul Virilio has highlighted one of
the most significant aspects of
these new media: the possibility for
the creation of affective worlds,
more potent and seductive than
any created by old media such as
radio or television. Rather than
merely seeing or hearing at a
distance, we can now ‘feel at a
distance’ (Virilio, 2001 [1995]: 24).
Different Stages
of Human
Communication
Mark Poster has suggested that the
classic periodization of history needs
to be reconsidered to take into
account historical developments
in the structure of symbolic
exchange. In a historical era when
the culture imparts a ‘fetishistic
importance’ to information (Poster:
1990: 6) the mode of production is
superseded by the mode of
information as a key organizing
principle of society. He describes the
historical stages:
In his discussion of television in the
1960s, Marshall McLuhan argued
that any medium is an extension of
ourselves and that the personal and
social consequences of media result
from the new scale that is introduced
into our affairs by each extension
(1994 [1964]: 7).
In Mark Poster's account, McLuhan's
major limitation was that he inserted
media into the Enlightenment
paradigm of the rational, unified
human and failed to recognize the
destabilization of the subject as a
corollary of the interaction with
technology (Poster, 2006: 123).
•
In the first, oral stage the self
is constituted as a position of
enunciation through its
embeddedness in a totality of
•
face to face relations.
In the second, print stage the
self is constructed as an
agent centred in
•
rational/imaginary autonomy.
In the third, electronic stage
the self is decentred,
dispersed, and multiplied in
continuous instability.
(Poster, 1990:6).
In each stage the means of
signification correspond to
stages in the relations between
self and other.
In the first decade of the twenty-first
century a technological shift of
immense significance occurred
when the Internet platform known
as Web 2.0 became available.
Moving from Web 1.0 (an early
version of the World Wide Web) to
Web 2.0 in the early 2000s afforded
an expanded realm of possibilities
for user agency, in particular, self-
representation.
In Web 1.0 the majority of users
acted as consumers of content; in
Web 2.0 any participant can create
content (see Cormode and
Krishnamurthy, 2008).
Social media demands interaction, so
much so that people become ‘distributed
actors’ on a multitude of channels
(Lovink, 2011: 147). Subjects are
constituted through their interaction with
media, but interactive media also allow
them to actively constitute themselves.
Poster conceptualizes the Internet as a
planetary public sphere, an electronic
agora, in which subject positions can be
constituted through the material
specificity of the global computer
network (Poster, 2006, 40–41).
If in the late modern era the individual is
compelled to reflect on and define
identity (Bauman, 2001; Beck and Beck-
Gernsheim, 2001), and the self has
become a reflexive product (Giddens,
1991: 32), the mediating space of the
Internet has provided new possibilities
for the narrative and performative
production of self.
Digital Selves in the
Information Economy
Castells argued that the network society
of the 1990s was increasingly structured
around a bipolar opposition between the
net and the self (Castells, 1996: 3). It is
now commonly acknowledged, however,
that social media and the possibility for
the creation of multiple identities in an
online world of the twenty-first century
have blurred this distinction.
The explosion of blogging and
microblogging, through services such as
Twitter, in the last
decade of the twentieth century has
precipitated excessive narration of self.
Self-representation is a mediated
event requiring textual and performative
articulation. Identity production and
management are
carried out in ‘networked publics’ (boyd,
2010) that exist on social network sites
such as Facebook, Friendster and
MySpace.
If we remember Dick Hebdige's
premise that postmodern society
means, if nothing else, a loss of
wholeness and the disintegration
of the unitary subject. In past eras
the producer could feel her or
himself part of an epic master-
narrative (Hebdige, 1993: 80),
but: ‘Capitalism these days has
absolutely no stake whatsoever in
the idea of individuals being tied
to fixed and stable identities’
(Hebdige, 1993: 82).
The omnipresence of electronic
screens saturating our lives in the
twenty-first century has
meant a proliferation of sites of
self-representation.
In the wake of the explosion of
Google, Siva Vaidhyanathan
argues that while we feel the
excitement of finding previously
unimaginable amounts of data at
our fingertips, we should not
overlook the consequences of the
‘googlization of everything’.
If we cannot avoid using Google in
the twenty-first century, we can
also not avoid being turned into a
commodity. Consumer profiling is
a form of surveillance (Elmer,
2004) in a ‘personal information
economy’ (Lace, 2005).
The practice of 'like farming'
exemplifies how information has
become commercialized and
consumers commodified. Every
'like' on Facebook carries
monetary value, which can be sold
to marketers and companies.
Users often click 'like' on
emotionally charged posts, such
as those related to illnesses or
parenting, contributing to the
illusion of widespread support.
This change is connected to
several cultural and economic
shifts, like the end of one big story
and the rise of many personal
stories online. It's also related to
how consumerism influences our
identities, the importance of
information in our economy, and
how technology affects how we
see ourselves and the world. Plus,
the internet makes it feel like we
can be everywhere at once,
changing how we experience time
and space. These ideas shape
how we narrate and perform our
identities online in the 21st
century, all within the context of
what's often called "late
capitalism."
I Blog and Tweet,
Therefore I Am
In today's globalized world,
extensive networks of culture,
images, capital, and power
shape our environment. This has
led to the fragmentation of
communities and a reordering of
traditional institutions like the
nation and the family. As a
result, individual identity has
become a central source of
social meaning.
Brian Massumi's study on fear in
postmodern society sheds light
on this phenomenon. He
suggests that fear, far from
being just an emotion, reflects
the subjective experience under
late capitalism. Fear of losing
one's identity is alleviated
through consumerism, where
our sense of self is tied to our
purchases.
Youtube
and the
Global Self
YouTube is a subsidiary of
Google and is a video sharing
website where people can
upload user-generated content
such as short
videos. As a social networking
site and a space for
participatory culture (Burgess
and Green, 2009), it is also a
prime site for the representation
of self with global reach.
YouTube has turned ordinary
individuals into overnight
sensations, known as
"celetoids," who capture fleeting
fame through viral moments.
For example, Corey
Worthington's antics at a party
quickly propelled him to
celebrity status, showcasing the
power of online platforms for
self-representation.
Similarly, Psy's "Gangnam Style"
video became a global
sensation, surpassing even
Justin Bieber's record for most-
watched YouTube video. The
widespread influence of social
media is evident in the real
world, with figures like Boris
Johnson and David Cameron
embracing the Gangnam craze.
Numerous parodies and
adaptations of Psy's video
further highlight the pervasive
impact of online self-expression.
CONCLUSION
With the emergence of the
interactive digital technologies
In Poster's terms,
‘postmodernity or the mode of
the Internet has become the site
of new modes of self-promotion.
information indicates
communication practices that
The proliferation of social media constitute subjects as
sites inviting users to find their unstable, multiple and diffuse’
voice, promote individual opinion, (Poster, 2012 [1995]: 447).
recreate themselves as avatars
or online identities, represent While switching in and out of
themselves as they are or as they identities in conformity with
want to be seen, disclose social context in the real world
personal details, share is hardly new, social media
knowledge about themselves and offer the self- obsessed, the
engage in emotionally fraught opportunistic and those
discourse with immense publics merely seeking reaffirmation
of strangers demonstrates the of their existence, hitherto
huge number of possibilities for unimagined potential for the
creation of multiple selves and construction of self on a
new forms of global self- global scale.
representation.
Discussion Questions
1. How does Chris Hudson explore the impact of new social media on
global self-representation in his article?
2. What are some key findings or insights presented by Hudson
regarding the intersection of social media and self-representation on
a global scale?
3. In what ways does Hudson discuss the role of new social media
platforms in shaping cultural identities and fostering cross-cultural
interactions?
HOW DO YOU REPRESENT YOURSELF IN SOCIAL MEDIA?
LINKS :
https://youtu.be/inQrcFytHJ0
https://youtu.be/inQrcFytHJ0

Globalization and Media: Creating the
Global Village
What is
Globalization???
Globalization is a vague, opaque,
and difficult word. Indeed, many
people have trouble defining
globalization. The word seems to
mean many things – a global
economy, international trade,
growing prosperity in China and
India, international travel and
communication, immigration,
migration, more foreign films and
foods, McDonald's in Paris,
Starbucks in Africa, mosques in
New York, an increase in ‘global’
problems such as climate change
and terrorism. The word can mean
everything and nothing.
Globalization and media have
created the conditions through
which many people can now
imagine themselves as part of
one world. It is this global
imaginary that brings to fruition
what Marshal McLuhan called the
‘global village’ (McLuhan,
1962: 16; 1964: 80).
WEEK 10 READINGS
Globalization and
Media:
Etymologies
Globalization, or globalisation in the
Queen's English, is a term that
seems to elude comfort in any
language. From la mondialisation in
French to quan qiu hua in Chinese,
it retains a chilly and distant aura.
Its origins are murky, with 'globalize'
only dating back to 1944 in the
Merriam-Webster dictionary.
Theodore Levitt, a former Harvard
Business School professor,
popularized it in a 1983 article.
Histor(ies) of Globalization
The cultural anthropologist Arjun
Appadurai feels there was a ‘rupture’
within social life in the late twentieth
century. Those two ‘diacritics’ –
media and migration fundamentally
changed human life, Appadurai says,
and gave rise to this entity now called
globalization (Appadurai, 1996: 1–
11).
Still others feel that globalization has
been going on since the beginning of
humanity, when the first Homo
sapiens departed from other Homo
sapiens in an African village and set
out in search of food or water or
adventure.
Etymologically, globalization
falls into the family of -ization
words, indicating a process or
outcome. This ambiguity often
leads to debates, with some
dismissing globalization due to
its inconclusive nature.However,
scholars like Peter J. Taylor
caution against this, urging us to
consider both meanings: as an
ongoing process and a potential
outcome.
This chapter asserts that
globalization is not a fixed
outcome but a continuous
process, encompassing
economic, political, and cultural
dimensions.
Yale's Nayan Chanda embraces this
view. He says globalization ‘is a
process that has worked silently for
millennia without having been given
a name’ and that, as a trend,
globalization ‘has been with us
since the beginning of history’. He
argues that a multitude othreads
‘connect us to faraway places from
an ancient time’ (Chanda, 2007: x–
xi).
No right answer exists, of course, as
to when globalization began. Writers
– and readers – simply must make
clear what they believe and why.
This chapter embraces the concept
that there is a fundamental human
impulse toward globalization.
Media
In contrast to globalization, media do not
seem hard to identify or define. The word
is plural for medium – a means of
conveying something, such as a channel
of communication. The plural form –
media – only came into general
circulation, however, in the 1920s. Like
globalization, the word ‘media’ came into
popular usage because a word was
needed to talk about a new social issue.
In the 1920s, people were talking about
their fears over the harmful influence of
comic books, radio, and film. They were
worried about young people reading
violent comics, voters hearing
propaganda over th radio, couples
disappearing into dark movie theaters.
They grouped these phenomena
together with debates over ‘the mass
media’
Evolution of Media and
Globalization
Scholars have found it logical and
helpful to organize the historical study of
media by time periods or stages. Each
period is characterized by its dominant
medium. For example, the Canadian
theorist Harold Innis (1950), Marshall
McLuhan's teacher, writing in the 1940s
and 1950s, divided media into three
periods: oral, print, and electronic.
Terhi Rantanen (2005) places script
before the printing press and breaks
down the electronic period into wired
and wireless, for six periods. For our
purposes, five time periods usefully
capture the study of globalization and
media: oral, script, print, electronic, and
digital. Media – and globalization as well
– have developed sporadically,
erratically, in fits and starts, driven by
human needs, desires, and actions,
resulting in great benefits and
sometimes greater harm. The history of
media and globalization is the history of
humanity itself.
Though the word is relatively
modern, humans have used
media of communication from
their first days on earth, and, we
will argue, those media have been
essential to globalization.
Globalization
We are maintaining that historical,
political, cultural, and economic
forces, now called globalization,
have worked in concert with
media from the dawn of time to
our present day, and that
globalization and media – two
words that only came into usage in
the twentieth century – capture
practices that have roots deep in
the history of humanity.
Oral Communication
Speech is often the most overlooked
medium in histories of globalization.
Yet the oral medium – human speech
– is the oldest and most enduring of
all media. Over hundreds of
thousands of years, despite
numerous changes undergone by
humans and their societies, the very
first and last humans will share at
least one thing – the ability to speak.
Speech has been with us for at least
200,000 years, script for less than
7,000 years, print for less than 600
years, and digital technology for less
than 50 years.
Language helped humans move, but
it also helped them settle down.
Language stored and transmitted
important agricultural information
across time as one generation
passed on its knowledge to the next,
leading to the creation of villages and
towns.
Language also led to
markets, the trade of goods and
services, and eventually into cross-
continental trade routes. Organized,
permanent, trading centers grew,
giving rise to cities.
This chapter makes the claim that
developments in media
technology are crucial to
globalization. Many scholars do
not give such prominence to
media. They might make passing
reference to media, but we are
arguing that media were, and are,
essential to globalization. The
following section will further make
that case.
And, lastly, we are suggesting that
the globe itself can be understood
as an ‘imagined community’. That
is a concept within a long,
thoughtful tradition, a tradition
that can further enrich
understanding of globalization and
media.
Script
Some histories of media technology
skip this stage or give it brief mention
as a transition between oral cultures
and cultures of the printing press. But
the era was crucial for globalization
and media. Language was essential
but imperfect. Distance causes
trouble for oral communication. It
takes elaborate systems to
communicate with language over
great expanses. Time also causes
difficulties. Language relies on
human memory, which is limited
in capacity and not always perfect.
\Script – the very first writing –
allowed humans to communicate and
share knowledge and ideas over
much larger spaces and across much
longer times. Script allowed for the
written and permanent codification of
economic, cultural, religious, and
political practice.
If globalization is considered the
economic, cultural, and political
integration of the world, then surely
script – the written word
– must be considered an essential
medium.
The Printing Press
All histories of media and globalization
acknowledge the consequential role of
the printing press. Many begin with the
printing press.
It's easy to see why.
Prior to the printing press, the production
and copying of written documents was
slow, cumbersome, and expensive. The
papyrus, parchment, and paper that
spread civilizations were the province of
a select, powerful few. Reading and
writing, too, were practices of the ruling
and religious elite. The rich and powerful
controlled information. With the advent
of the printing press, first made with
movable wooden blocks in China and
then with movable metal type by
Johannes Gutenberg in Germany,
reading material suddenly was cheaply
made and easily circulated.
In a masterful, 750-page treatise,
historian Elizabeth Eisenstein
(1979) surveyed the many
profound influences of the printing
press. Two overarching
consequences, however, can be
suggested from her work. First,
the printing press changed the
very nature of knowledge. It
preserved knowledge, which had
been more malleable in oral
cultures. It also standardized
knowledge, which had become
more variable as it spread orally
across regions and lands. Script
and papyrus had begun the
process of preservation and
standardization, but not nearly to
the extent allowed by printing
presses.
A second consequence: print
encouraged the challenge of
political and religious authority
because of its ability to circulate
competing views. Eisenstein notes
that ‘fear of disapproval, a
sense of isolation, the force of
local community sanctions, the
habit of respectful submission
to traditional authority – all might
be weakened’ (1979: 148).
The printing press, however,
encouraged the literacy of the
public and the growth of schools.
Too, the rise of inexpensive, easily
obtained magazines and daily
newspapers brought news from
around the world to people.

Electronic Media Digital Media

For many people, television is considered the most
powerful and pervasive mass medium yet created.
Though television programming existed back in the
1920s, the years after World War II saw the explosion
in the production and penetration of television into
homes around the
world. According to the US Census Bureau's
Statistical Abstract, for example, before 1950, fewer
than 10 per cent of US homes had televisions. In five
years, the number grew to 64.5 per cent. By 1960,
87.1 per cent of US homes had television. Worldwide
growth was rapid too.
By the end of the 1960s, half the countries in the
world had television stations. Television brought
together the visual and aural power of film with the
accessibility of radio: people sat in their living rooms
and kitchens and viewed pictures and stories from
across the globe. The world was brought into the
home. The amount, range, and intensity of
communication with other lands and cultures
occurred in ways simply not possible before. For
some scholars, the introduction of television was a
defining moment in globalization. Marshall McLuhan
proclaimed the world a ‘global village’, largely
because of television.
In summary, electronic media, from the telegraph to
television, have played a crucial role in shaping
global communication, connecting people and
cultures in ways previously unimaginable.
Digital media are most often electronic media that
rely on digital codes – the long arcane
combinations of 0s and 1s that represent
information. Many of our earlier media, such as
phones and televisions, can now be considered
digital. Indeed, digital may even be blurring
the lines among media. If you can watch
television, take photographs, show movies, and
send e-mail on your smart phone or tablet, what
does that mean for our neat categorization of
media into television, film, or phone? The
computer, though, is the usual representation of
digital media. The computer comes as the latest
and, some would argue, most significant
medium to influence globalization.
In the realm of politics, computers allow citizens
access to information from around the world,
even information that governments would like to
conceal. Blogs, social media, Twitter, text
messaging, and more allow citizens to
communicate among themselves. And computers
have transformed cultural life. Access to
information around the globe allows people to
adopt and adapt new practices in music, sports,
education, religion, fashion, cuisine, the arts, and
other areas of culture. People talk with friends,
relations, and even strangers around the world
through Skype, Google Chat, and other programs.
Digital media have revolutionized daily life.
No Globalization
without Media
The purpose of this section has been to
track the development of
communication media over time and
show how those media were essential to
the ongoing processes of globalization.
Our starting point was that the human
impulse to globalize and the human
need to communicate over distance
have proceeded together through
history, each driving and influencing
theother. Even in a condensed summary,
the partnership of globalization and
media is clear. Each of the eras – oral,
script, print, electronic, and digital – saw
marked influences of media on
globalization.
It is difficult to imagine globalization
occurring without the media that are so
crucial to human life.
Global Imaginary and
Global Village
The media are helping to bring about a
fundamentally new imaginary, what
scholar Manfred Steger (2008) has
called a rising global imaginary – the
globe itself as imagined community. In
the past, only a few, privileged people
thought of themselves as ‘cosmopolitan’
– citizens of the world. Cosmopolitanism
is now a feature of modern life. People
imagine themselves as part of the world.
But in the 1960s, media scholar
Marshall McLuhan anticipated this
phenomenon with his argument that
media have connected the world in ways
that create a ‘global village’. The global
village, McLuhan felt, would bring about
a utopia. Drawn closely together by
media, people would be like neighbors,
living in ‘a Pentecostal condition of
universal understanding and unity’
(1964: 80). From its introduction,
though, the metaphor of the global
village has been a source of controversy.
Media and Economic
Globalization
The media have been essential to
the growth of economic
globalization in our world. Indeed,
the media have made economic
globalization possible by creating
the conditions for global
capitalism and by promoting the
conceptual foundation of the
world's market economy.
Economic globalization, from this
perspective is not just dollars and
cents, but story and myth
– narratives that make natural the
buying and selling of products
across borders and boundaries
and mythic celebrations of
products and consumption.
Communication media have
played a crucial role in shaping
what scholar Manfred Steger
terms the "rising global imaginary"
– the conception of the world as a
unified community. These media
not only physically connect the
globe through networks but also
foster a shared understanding
through stories, images, and
metaphors.
Despite their differing
perspectives, globalization and
media have intertwined to create
a hybrid of Mumford's and
McLuhan's visions. While
McLuhan foresaw a connected
world akin to a village, the reality
has been far from harmonious.
Instead, globalization and media
have contributed to a dystopian
landscape marked by economic,
political, and cultural challenges.
This fusion of visions highlights
the complex and often
contradictory nature of the
modern globalized society.
The media foster the conditions
for global capitalism. The role of
the media in this process cannot
be overstated.
As media scholar Robert
McChesney reminds us,
‘Economic and cultural
globalization arguably would be
impossible without a global
commercial media system to
promote global markets and to
encourage consumer values’
(McChesney, 2001).
McChesney and co-author Edward
Herman (Herman and McChesney,
1997) call global media ‘the new
missionaries of global capitalism’.
Oligopoly
The rise of global media
conglomerates has transformed
the landscape of the media
industry, giving birth to what is
often referred to as a media
oligopoly. This oligopoly,
characterized by the dominance
of a few large corporations, has
seen small, local media
companies being acquired and
consolidated into global giants.
Moreover, critical theorists like
Adorno and Horkheimer have
long warned about the
implications of a "culture
industry" that produces mindless
entertainment, diverting
attention away from critical
thinking and social and political
action. They argue that such
entertainment can effectively
distract audiences, consuming
their time and energy and
hindering their involvement in
meaningful social and political
discourse.
No
News Today
Transnational conglomerates, in this
view, are much less interested than local
media outlets in providing news and
information necessary for citizens.
People are encouraged to think of
products not politics.
They are consumers not citizens. The
conglomerates have little incentive to
invest in local talk shows, news
channels, documentaries, or other social
and political content. The global
oligopoly of media thus helps create a
passive apolitical populace that rises
from the couch primarily for
consumption.
The oligopoly's single-minded interest in
profits results in mass content rather
than local content.
Media and Political
Globalization
An essential process of globalization is
political. Globalization has transformed
world politics in profound ways. It led to
the formation and then the overthrow of
kingdoms and empires. It led to the
creation of the nation-state. And now
some argue that the nation-state is
being weakened as people and borders
become ever more fluid in our globalized
world. Some argue that transnational
political actors, from NGOs (non-
governmental organizations) like
Greenpeace to corporations to the
United Nations, now rise in prominence
in our age of globalization. When we add
the media to the admixture of
globalization and politics, we touch upon
some key features of modern life.
The International Federation of
Journalists (IFJ) estimates that on
average close to 100 journalists and
media workers are killed in the line of
duty each year. They die in war zones.
They die from car bombs.
This profit-centric approach also
translates into the production of
mass content over local content.
Local media outlets often prioritize
reruns of popular US shows, global
sporting events, and celebrity
entertainment programs,
neglecting programming on public
affairs and issues.
As a result, news and political
content become softer, lighter,
and less challenging, with less
attention given to substantive
issues and more focus on
sensationalism and
entertainment.
They die covering earthquakes,
floods, and hurricanes. They die in
drug raids. Many though are
specifically targeted, hunted
down, and murdered because of
their work.
Journalists must bear some of the
responsibility for lax coverage of
government and society.
Bribery of journalists, for example,
remains a fact of life in many
countries.
Such circumstances show the
political possibilities – and
obstacles – facing new media in
modern civil society. Though
sometimes slow at first to
recognize the possibility – and
threat – posed by new media,
established political and economic
forces have moved quickly to
assert control.
Globalization complicates but
does not lessen political
intimidation and control of media.
The impact on international news
reporting has been particularly
severe. Foreign news bureaus are
costly to maintain, and many
media organizations have
downsized or closed them
altogether. As a result,
international news coverage has
declined globally, despite
advancements in technology that
should theoretically make
reporting more accessible. Even
significant events like the 9/11
attacks and subsequent wars
have failed to generate the
expected surge in international
news coverage, leaving many to
question why so much media
output produces so little
informative content..
Media and Cultural
Globalization
The media, on one level, are the
primary carriers of culture.
Through newspapers,
magazines, movies,
advertisements, television,
radio, the Internet, and other
forms, the media produce and
display cultural products, from
pop songs to top films. They also
generate numerous and ongoing
interactions among cultures,
such as when American hip hop
music is heard by Cuban youth.
Yet, the media are much more
than technology, more than
mechanical conveyors of culture,
more than simple carriers of
editorial cartoons or McDonalds'
advertisements. The media are
people. These people are active
economic agents and aggressive
political lobbyists on matters of
culture. They market brands
aggressively.
Dark Contours
of the Global
Village
Globalization and media have
done wondrous deeds. They
have succeeded in bringing the
world closer together. They have
removed the shackles of time
and space. They have given
us the ability to truly imagine the
world as a global village. When
McLuhan first conceived the
term, he had the highest hopes
and, even today, the term global
village still evokes community,
kinship, cooperation, and
fraternity. But Lewis Mumford
was not fooled. His cold, clear
vision of human weakness saw
emerging the dark contours of
the global village. He saw media
technology used not to better
the world but to exploit the
world in pursuit of property,
profit, and power.
Our discussion here shows
globalization and media too
often have fulfilled Mumford's
worst fears. They have built a
village with large tracts of
economic injustice, political
repression, and cultural conflict.
They have sewn seeds of bitter
and deadly discord between
nations, classes, political
parties, ethnic groups, religions,
and neighbors. They have pit
humans against nature. They
have despoiled the very globe
they encircle. We should expect
better.
CONCLUSION In conclusion, while
globalization and media have
The globalization of media has contributed to the creation of
undeniably played a pivotal role a global village marked by
in shaping what Marshall interconnectedness and
cultural exchange, they also
McLuhan termed the "global
village," a concept that refers to pose challenges related to
the interconnectedness of the information integrity, access,
world through communication and governance.
technologies. Globalization has
facilitated unprecedented As we navigate the
interconnectedness among complexities of an increasingly
people worldwide. Media interconnected world, it is
platforms such as the internet, essential to harness the
social media, and satellite potential of media
television have bridged globalization while addressing
geographical gaps, allowing its shortcomings to foster a
individuals to communicate and more inclusive and informed
share information across borders global society.
instantaneously.
Discussion Questions
1. How has the globalization of media platforms transformed the
concept of the "global village," and what are some key examples of
its impact on interconnectedness among diverse communities?
2. In what ways has media globalization facilitated cultural exchange,
and what are the implications for cultural diversity and identity in the
globalized landscape?
3. What are the main challenges posed by media globalization,
particularly regarding misinformation, regulatory issues, and the
digital divide, and how can these challenges be addressed to foster
a more inclusive and informed global society?

The Affective Labor and
Performance of Live
Streaming on Twitch.tv
INTRODUCTION
Live streaming and game
commentary are important for
critical media studies for two
reasons. First, live streaming is
a major global phenomenon
and expanding in scope and
reach.
The scale of the audience is
now impressive enough to rival
many
television channels and
traditional sports broadcasts,
whereas it is also becoming an
increasingly central element of
digital gaming culture more
broadly.
Second, streaming represents a
career path that many young
people—disproportionately
impacted by the financial
crisis—are pursuing, finding the
apparent opportunity to play
games for a living
understandably compelling
(Johnson and Woodcock 2019).
WEEK 10 READINGS
In this article, we examine the affective dimensions of video game
streaming labor, which involves being compelling to watch and friendly
to viewers, soliciting donations, building parasocial intimacy with
spectators, and engaging audiences through humor. Our analysis pays
particular attention to the extent to which streamers broadcast as
“themselves” or as a “character.” This disjunction is a tactic of self-
branding (Hearn 2008; Marwick 2013) in an increasingly crowded
marketplace. We also examine these kinds of labor within the
dynamics of the platform, shedding light on the stresses and
challenges for streamers.
CONCLUSION
The article delves into the intricacies
Twitch and Live Streaming of labor involved in streaming on the
Twitch platform, highlighting the
The Twitch platform can be compared
importance of being presentable,
with YouTube, and Hector Postigo’s
funny, engaging, and in character.
(2016) study of video game
These aspects of labor are essential
commentary on YouTube is a
for streamers to navigate the
particularly important reference for
our analysis. Hector Postigo (2016,
complex relationships between
themselves, the game being played,
332) focuses on the technical and
the Twitch platform, and the
social affordances of the platform,
audience.
examining how “the hybridity of play
and production” provide the
The authors argue that the labor
opportunity for transforming leisure
involved in streaming is not just
into a Form of work.
about playing games but also about
being socially active and emotionally
Affective Labor on Twitch responsive. Despite the seemingly
casual nature of streams, the article
Twitch is a deeply social platform for emphasizes the significant amount
content production and distribution. of affective labor that streamers
Beyond a simple broadcast relation, invest in their content.
streamers and viewers communicate
to one another through the platform’s Moreover, the article calls attention
chat system. The browser presents to the new pressures professional
the user with three interactions : first, streamers face, indicating the need
the live-streamed gameplay for urgent attention to understand
(mirroring what the streamer sees); the evolving landscape of streaming
second, an embedded live stream of as a profession. With Twitch's rapid
the streamer, showing them narrating and continuous growth and the
and playing the game; and third, a diverse forms of affective labor
chat window to the side that the involved, the authors assert that
audience can use to type messages comprehending these forms of work
to the streamer and each other. is crucial for developing theories
around digital game labor.